BURLINGTON -- Contois Auditorium was
the setting for Theatre on a Shoestring's
production of "The Eight: Reindeer
Monologues." They presented the
show in 2001 -- and the importance
of the work as an educational piece
on the
issues of sexual harassment and rape
has not been mitigated by the passage
of time. It's strictly an adult presentation,
and the humor is absolutely welcome
after some hard-to-digest, painful
thoughts
have been spoken.

Physical staging is very simple: a single
stool with an interrogation light above
it. There has been an attack and the
reindeer are being interviewed. Costumes
were simple, all including antlers.

The first monologue was delivered by
Kevin Bosley as Dasher. He was all military
-- combat fatigues, sunglasses, and an
officer's whip. He made the point that
Rudolph only worked one year and that
was the only year in which he -- Dasher
-- personally had missed being part of
the team. Bosley did a great job and
I was a little afraid to laugh even at
the obviously humorous lines. When he
existed, the audience wasn't sure whether
to clap or not -- would they get into
trouble if they did? Bosley also played
Comet.
Jonathan Whitton played Cupid, the
gay reindeer, and he was well past
the "don't-ask,
don't-tell" advise...descriptions
of a sexual matter leave much to the
imagination. Ryan Morin's Prancer was
all sunglasses and casual California
shirts. His purpose was to change the
image in the movies -- you know, go
from Bambi to combat fighter.

Deborah Renshaw as Blitzen talked about
being a female reindeer on this team.
Dancer, played by Raquel Aronhime, really
wanted to be a dancer (once upon a time
reindeer were great dancers until it
was illegal for them to dance).

Donner (Bob Carmody) was wonderful as
Rudolph's father, forced to live with
what he had done to Rudolph. Yes, he
knew what was going on, but he kept silent.
After all, it was Santa Claus and who
ever said anything bad about Santa Claus?

The last reindeer of all was Vixen (Melissa
Wyman), the victim. She dropped all charges
because who would believe her? How would
she ever find work again? She moved to
Florida.

The issues talked about in "Reindeer" are
the issues we don't like to talk about.
No one wants to imagine that a saintly
character is a perpetual alcoholic,
sex fiend, and rapist. How many of
us are
strong enough to stand up and tell
the truth even if it means losing our
credibility,
our jobs, and our livelihood? This
made me very uncomfortable at times,
but that's
what theater is supposed to do. If
the humor softened the blows, so be
it.

I look forward to future productions
from this group. Keep up the good work.